Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

[leafcutter]

Theglid

Theglid continues to forcefully brandish his holy symbol.

Back, I said! St Ygg commands you!

(another turning check. If this doesn't work, I think it might be time to smack it )

[Fingolwyn]

Note: technically, I went ahead without Lhainor's contribution. That said, he would be at the bottom of the initiative, so he can go first/twice (once at end of last round, one at beginning of this one) if he wants to get in this. Also, edited the post above to include the various rolls inside a spoiler for those interested.

No problem...I didn't plan to leave the rear guard and join melee unless I was attacked. I assume something down the hall heard the stone door slam (twice now) and will attack from back here soon.

[drpete]

Round Four

Carling swings wildly at the skeleton, but his blow is uncontrolled. The sledgehammer not a familiar weapon, or weighted well for combat.

The skeleton, though, is accustomed to using its sword, and brings it down hard on poor Carling once again. Carling's leg erupts in a fountain of blood as the cocky elf collapses. The sledgehammer crashes to the ground one last time.

Betdas attacks the skeleton, but misses.

Theglid presents his holy symbol, and the skeleton visibly reacts this time, as if burned. It looks like it is going to try to flee south. Theglid feels, however, that this power is *spent* and won't function again down here (today).

Finding a moment to breathe, Fane gets to his feet.

Lhainor guards the south passage. He sees that the skeleton is about to try to run past him.

Sorry, Spearmint! You are welcome to make up a new character with one of your other sets of rolls, if you would like to continue playing. We'll get you back in asap!

[Fingolwyn]

No reason to break the Turn, especially if Theglid can't do it again. Does its movement around the corner indicate that others are coming up the hallway towards it (it would have to move aside instead of running down the middle of the hall)?

[drpete]

There seem to be no other skeletons visible at the moment. It just looks like it's going to flee south out of the dead end hallway it's in with a priest of St Ygg, even if that means running past a few people.

[thirdkingdom]

There seem to be no other skeletons visible at the moment. It just looks like it's going to flee south out of the dead end hallway it's in with a priest of St Ygg, even if that means running past a few people.

Betdas the Bold

"Leave it be," Betdas advises, "we've got two dead and naught to show for it. Let's take Carling's cooling corpse and return to the surface, then hie to Helix to recover."

I think I'm reading the post correctly and Carling is dead?

[drpete]

Yes, Carling is dead. Killed by two good attack rolls (I'll edit the rolls into the post when I get a chance...)

[drpete]

Date: June 1, 1:41 pm, Monday
Season: Early Summer
Moon phase: New Moon
Light Sources: Theglid's torch 2 (lit @ 1:10)
Location: By the skeleton door

The skeleton runs south to the intersection, then east down the unexplored hallway, fleeing from the power of St Ygg. Theglid knows that it will be back eventually. It is not destroyed, but it will not trouble you for a while.

You are exhausted from the fight and your exploration so far, and need to rest. Before you can catch your breath, or really begin the process of figuring out what to do with Carling's body or possessions, Lhainor observes an light coming down the east hallway. The light seems to be coming from a large glowing beetle which may have been attracted by the sound of the fight...? The beetle is 60 feet east of you.

Technically, you've explored/fought for 5 turns:
Turn 1: Examining the Standing Stones
Turn 2: Exploring the big barrow
Turn 3: building the rope ladder
Turn 4: Descending the rope ladder
Turn 5: Fighting the Skeletons

and you need to rest. There is, however, a fire beetle approaching.

[thirdkingdom]

Betdas the Bold

"Everyone one knows that monsters attracted by the clamor of battle rarely possess anything worthwhile, and that it is best to avoid confrontations with them, especially when a group is as weary and wounded as we are. I therefore propose to throw some of Carling's rations towards it, in the hopes of bribing it with food and drawing its attention elsewhere!"

If no one moves to stop him Betdas will enact his cunning plan.

[drpete]

Going step-by-step... Betdas wants to (for a start) get some food from Carling's bag. There's a downstream plan for what to do with that, but we'll see how that goes...

What would other folks like to do?

[leafcutter]

Theglid

Pretty sure it's time to get out of here. Theglid will head south out of this hallway, ready to stand by Betdas as he tries to buy the beetle off with some food. He will also set down his torch and hold his shield in that hand (mace in right hand, shield in left). Hopefully this works, because it will be extra difficult to climb up a rope when a fire beetle is trying to get us.

[snake_hunter]

Fane will cover the others with his crossbow. He won't fire unless the beetle ignores the rations and moves to attack.

[Fingolwyn]

Lhainor

Lhainor will drag Carling's body to the exit chamber once the others have retrieved food for the beetle.

[drpete]

Round One

Fane advances down the hallway, and trains his crossbow on the glowing beetle.

The beetle, attracted by the light and sound, advances surprisingly fast, closing half of the space to the group.

Theglid moves south to the intersection, puts his torch on the ground, and readies his mace and shield. Lhainor moves to Carling's body.

Betdas pulls some food from Carling's pack.

The beetle will be able to close to melee range before Theglid can get the food on front of him... it's just moving too quickly... which is also faster than you guys.

Fane will be able to shoot at it before it closes (prepared missile phase) and Theglid would attack first (bigger weapon on entering melee) if you stand your ground.

If they retreat, they can stay out of melee range. Fane can still fire, if he wants. This would give Betdas space/time to toss food at it. It would be at the intersection, though,
By the time Theglid got food to it, potentially cutting off Betdas and Lhainor.

[thirdkingdom]

I'm a little confused about the timing and location of everything. My hope was to use the food to distract the beetle --
B/X allows a chance for pursuing monsters to stop chasing (in this case, charging towards) the party to go after dropped food/gold. A quick look through Blueholme indicates that rule is absent? I guess you're ruling, though, that the beetle was too close to dig food out to throw before it can close? Does Blueholme use reaction rolls to determine if wandering monsters automatically attack?

[drpete]

Sure, I follow... lessee...

The beetle became visible about 60 feet off to the east of the intersection, and has started moving toward you (it turns out, at 30 feet/round)..

Betdas is by Carling's body, about 20 feet north up the hallway from the intersection (by the door where Wick died). Digging something out of (Carling's) pack takes a round, then you can move south/toss the food. It's just moving a bit quickly for this to all get done before it is "upon" you at the intersection itself.

There is a 2d6 reaction roll for things that don't have an automatic reaction, yes. I rolled one, though I don't think you'd necessarily know how the beetle feels about you (until it does or does not attack). And the food can definitely have an impact on the beetle. I'll totally figure out some kind of reaction to the food... to some extent, trying to figure out where everyone ends up if it doesn't want the food...

[thirdkingdom]

Betdas the Bold

Betdas furiously digs out the rations and flings them at the beetle.

[leafcutter]

I just noticed you said that Theglid was pulling food from Carling's pack. That "he" in my original post was ambiguous, sorry. What I meant was Theglid was going to cover Betdas while Betdas grabs the food and attempts to distract the beetle. So basically Theglid is just standing there defensively, ready to hit the beetle if it decides to attack us.

Sorry for the confusion.

[drpete]

Oops, did I write that? I meant Betdas was pulling stuff out, and Theglid was standing in the intersection with his mace & shield...

[drpete]

Fane and Theglid move a bit into the northern hallway to guard the others from the beetle. The beetle scampers up to the intersection, and Theglid tosses the food to it. The food lands right in front of the beetle, which starts to tear into it.

The beetle is standing in the intersection eating Carling's food. It is distracted, but you don't have a *huge* amount of time before it will be finished. What would you like to do? There was a suggestion of dragging Carling's body out of the tomb... if you want to do that, explain how you would manage to get it up the rope, etc.